Page 72 of Crow's Haven
Harper glances up from the floor plan she’s looking at. “Thank you for coming,” she says with a determined expression.
“I’m happy to do whatever you need.”
Gesturing to the bench, she tells me, “Have a seat and make yourself comfortable. We’ve planned the details of this operation thoroughly.”
“Am I allowed to know the plan?” I ask.
“Of course. From this moment on, you’re going to be at my side. As of now, the tech team is jamming cell phone signals.”
“Is that because you don’t trust me?” The question pops out of my mouth before I think about how it sounds.
Harper perks up. “Not just you. I don’t trust anyone. This is part of the operational security protocols for a search and seizure of this magnitude. When I say go, fifty agents are going to descend on this hospital. Your job is to help me plan their entry points, movements in the building, and destinations.”
I sit up a little straighter. “Oh, alright. I can do that.”
“You are crucial to the success of this mission because you’re familiar with the entire layout of the hospital. You know the best entry points and which spaces are used to store meds. I have a map of the layout of the hospital, but not all the rooms are identified. First, I want you to mark every space where medications are stored.”
I move closer and gaze at the map, trying to figure out my bearings, then snatch up a pencil and begin identifying each space. The others watch in silence.
“Alright, let’s start with the pharmacy. It’s the central location that houses the majority of meds at any given time.” I put a large star over the room and name it on the map.
I quickly scan over the map, putting a star on every place I know they keep meds in the hospital. “We don’t have automated dispensing cabinets at Twin Rivers. Each floor in the hospital has a centralized supply closet for medications that contain IV fluids. Each closet has warming and refrigeration units to keep IV meds at the proper temperature.”
“That’s really good information,” Harper murmurs.
“In addition to the centralized supply closets, every unit with a nursing station has a medication storage unit with a fingerprint scanner. At our hospital they are stationary. The nurses draw from these locked carts when physiciansprescribe medications. All the meds are double locked. It takes two fingerprints from authorized users to access controlled substances. In addition to the stationary cabinets, we have mobile med carts. The nurses load these with meds and wheel them around to dispense meds on the floor.”
“Any other place where meds are kept?”
“No, but it’s important to note that at Twin Rivers, each of these medication storage units has a locked compartment where expired or unusable medications are segregated from regular meds. The goal is to ensure every patient receives viable medications. I don’t think they would store them in mobile med carts or even the stationary storage units because a whole case would require more space than those units have.”
“So, we’re looking at the dispensing closets and maybe the pharmacy?”
“Yes, there and the morgue.”
All heads snapped around to gape at me. I quickly explained. “Sometimes when we had cases of expired meds, the hospital stored them in a locked morgue drawer.”
Agent Dawson’s face contorts into an expression of disgust. “You mean where the dead bodies are kept?”
I nod, frowning at her absurd pearl-clutching. “Our morgue didn’t see a lot of action. Most of the drawers were empty all the time. Without a body, it’s just a large, cavernous storage compartment. Using it to store things you don’t want medical personnel to accidentally get their hands on makes sense.”
Dawson looks down, swearing under her breath. I realize to an outsider it probably sounds weird. But working in hospitals you get used to the quirks.
We get back to work and trace out the shortest route to each target area. Somewhere along the line, I start to feel professionally useful again. After about fifteen minutes, Harper had her IT team assign a target area to each of her agents, who were staged nearby. And the thirty-minute countdown begins.
When we climb out of the van, Agent Harper catches my notice as she checks her firearm, her badge flashing briefly in the dim glow of the streetlights. When her eyes meet mine, she’s intense and ready for anything, yet reassuring.
Another SUV rolls to a quiet stop beside the van. I anxiously glance at the hospital to see if anyone is paying attention to us. The hospital’s familiar glass-and-brick façade looms dark against the night sky. A huge, illuminated sign flashes the words ‘Emergency Room’ over the double-doored side entrance. Not a living soul is outside to notice what we say or do.
When a dozen more dark SUVs come to a halt up and down the street, my heart pounds wildly, adrenaline racing through my veins. I’m thinking they will surely notice this. But they don’t. I’m not sure what I think they’d even do if they did notice, besides try to ditch the medication before we got to it.
Doors fly open, and agents spill out onto the pavement, looking very sure of themselves.
I take a deep breath to steady myself. Dawson starts counting down from ten, and everyone starts to move forward.
Agent Harper meets my gaze with a brisk nod, her expression steely. “Stay close to me,” she commands calmly.
I nod firmly, swallowing the tightness in my throat. “Lead the way.”
